Talk:Psychotropic drug
Biogenic compound The gel that Garak found in was identified in the episode as a biogenic compound. I always assumed that the compound was used in the stasis tubes to provide some sort of nourishment. Are we certain that the biogenic compound and the psychotropic drug are one in the same? I do not believe that we can say that - for all we know, the biogenic compound contained the drug, or perhaps the drug was found elsewhere in the stasis tubes. Or perhaps it was airborne and only affected Cardassians? -Rhinecanthus rectangulus 21:24, 23 April 2008 (UTC) LSD There are a number of problems/inaccuracies with this this statement: "During the 1960s, some Humans on Earth used a psychotropic drug known as LSD for recreation, which caused some damage to their minds later in life." * Usage of LSD is hardly limited to the 1960s. While that decade arguably represents the high water mark of its usage, it has remained a significantly used substance (at least recreationally) up through the present day. * While LSD use has largely been recreational over the decades, it has also seen use as a spiritual tool and, more notably, it was successfully employed as a therapeutic tool in psychiatric therapy during the 1960s. Furthermore, active research into its potential in therapeutic usage has been renewed in the last decade and has culminated in the completion and publication of medical studies with promising results in the past few years. * The implication that LSD usage always leads to some form of mental dysfunction is false. Typically, said dysfunction is limited to individuals who engage in excessive usage of the substance (i.e. abuse) and, even then, such excess does not always guarantee dysfunction or "damage". Ultimately, in fact, LSD's success in psychiatric therapy in the 1960s coupled with the promising research into its therapeutic usage in the 2010s proves this notion to be false. * The onset of LSD-related psychiatric dysfunction is hardly limited to "later in life". While significantly delayed onset can and does occur, long-term or chronic psychiatric dysfunction typically begins to manifest itself during the individual's excessive use (abuse) of the substance or in the months and years that immediately follow said use. Therefore, I propose the following edit: "During 20th and 21st century Earth, some Humans used a psychotropic drug known as LSD for recreational, spiritual and medicinal purposes. In cases of excessive LSD usage, individuals often developed some form of significant mental dysfunction sometimes resulting in serious psychiatric illness." I may be making a mountain out of a molehill here, but I thought I should be extra thorough since this edit not only addresses the very sensitive subject of drug use but is also my first edit. -- Mr. Jeffrey Tubes (talk) 05:40, June 10, 2014 (UTC) :I see you've already edited, but I've taken the liberty to change it a bit differently. The 1960s thing I think should not be replaced, because all we know from the movie is that it was used in the sixties and we should stick to that, not dwell on real world factoids. If our only mention of say, windmills, were in , then we'd say they existed on 19th century Earth even though they existed before and after. Furthermore, by changing sixties to 20th century, the statement would be less precise, the gaining of more real world information would lead to a loss of star trek information. Our focus is documenting Star Trek, giving a wider context is is what the external links are for. In the same vein, it was never said on-screen what LSD was used for, so the better solution would be to reflect that rather then again add a lot of things that were never mentioned. -- Capricorn (talk) 02:24, June 14, 2014 (UTC)